At Montverre, an exclusive academy tucked away in the mountains, the best and brightest are trained for excellence in the grand jeu: an arcane and mysterious contest. Léo Martin was once a student there, but lost his passion for the grand jeu following a violent tragedy. Now, he returns in disgrace, exiled to his old place of learning with his political career in tatters.
Montverre has chanced since he studied there, even allowing a woman, Claire Dryden, to serve in the grand jeu's highest office of Magister Ludi. When Léo first sees Claire he senses an odd connection with her, though he's sure they've never met before.
The bond between them is strengthened; but both Léo and Claire have built their lives on lies. And as the legendary Midsummer Game draws closer, secrets are whispering in the walls...
THE BETRAYALS by Bridget Collins
Published: 2020
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy Ficional, Magical Realism
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Where to begin? This is the second of Bridget Collins' books I've read, and like the first, its reputation proceeded it; Bridget Collins did not disappoint.
I began this book fearing I'd missed something important about the game of the grand jeu that's such an important component, since it seemed so specific and yet at the same time so elusive in its descriptions. Having reached the end of the book however, I now understand the story to have been partly inspired by Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game - (a book I've not read, but now very much wish to). What Bridget Collins calls the grand jeu has much in common with the glass bead game's components of math, music and ideas in an atmosphere of meditation. I must say that it sounds so intriguing and the only thing missing to complete the reading experience was a demonstration of the game in full. I'm longing to understand it. Though, of course, if demonstrated the grand jeu would lose its mystique, and so we are left to our imaginings. You're given the sense that something magical happens when the game is played, and I can only imagine the immersive experience.
The narrator rotates for each chapter and we're taken through two time lines, seeing Léo's perspective of Montverre then and now, as well as Claire's as she struggles to settle into her role as Magister Ludi at the academy - a position previously occupied by a man. It is uncommon for a woman to play the grand jeu, let alone to understand it and earn a place amongst its academy's ranking faculty. There is an outdated sexist feel to the academy and the game; a superiority of men assuming without cause that women cannot measure up. It's an opinion that I believe Léo shares at times, which was what made it interesting when his story and Claire's began to align.
Léo's character is poked full of human flaws, making you groan and despair of his errors and ill-conceived interventions. Claire's character is full of anger and secrets, and the tense interactions between her and Léo kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering just what was being kept hidden and what would be revealed.
*hint hint* It wasn't what I expected, and my jaw dropped!
Though Claire and Léo are well conceived, it must be said, that the story-stealing character that kept me turning pages was in fact The Rat. I just loved reading her chapters, the slow reveal of her part in the story and how she came to be hiding at such a sexist institution that did not allow girls to attend. Her sections appeared less frequently in the book and each time I reached one of her chapters my heart gave a little "yes" of delight. She felt so well formed; her inhuman behaviour and qualities somehow making her the most human or them all, for what could be more human than following our base and primal needs, food, sleep and safety...and later curiosity. She and one other hide in the many deserted rooms and corridors of Montverre, evading discovery. Over the years her presence has amounted to no more than whispers of a crying girl in the walls, or ghostly half-sightings that suggests the building is haunted.
I applaud Bridget Collins writing style and the easy tone of her books. They are purely character and story driven, and though it vexes me a little, I think it's clever that the storylines are often left open ended. As the reader I felt encouraged to imagine more, or forced to accept that I'll never know. That is her brilliance.
The Betrayals (aptly titled by the way) is another book I'd thoroughly recommend. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Happy reading!
Zuzu
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